Latest Library Links

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Here are some facts about female achievers who improved and advocated for our libraries. The 135th Street branch of New York Public Library was where librarian Sadie Peterson Delaney pioneered the technique of bibliotherapy, the therapeutic use of reading materials, to help immigrants and troubled children in the 1920s. Also, in 1857 Jane Wadden Turner was hired as a library clerk by the Smithsonian. She was the first woman to secure a paid position at the institution.
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During the entire month of March, the ALA Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship will recognize and celebrate women’s achievements with National Women’s History Month. This year the committee is putting the spotlight on librarians who participated in the Women’s March—a grassroots effort to send the message that women’s rights are human rights. It was a worldwide protest held on January 21–22. Visit the highlights page to look photos and stories.
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Julie A. Leuzinger, head of library learning services at the University of North Texas, has been awarded the 2017 ACRL Politics, Policy, and International Relations Section’s Marta Lange/Sage–CQ Press Award. The award honors an academic or law librarian who has made distinguished contributions to bibliography and information service in law or political science.

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Yale University on March 1 announced the 2017 recipients of its Windham-Campbell Prizes. The eight recipients, honored for their literary achievement or promise, will receive a $165,000 individual prize to support their writing. The winners are; in fiction, André Alexis and Erna Brodber; in nonfiction, Maya Jasanoff and Ashleigh Young; in poetry, Ali Cobby Eckermann and Carolyn Forché; and in drama, Marina Carr and Ike Holter.
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Deborah L. Schaeffer, instruction and reference librarian and liaison librarian to the School of Social Work (retired) at California State University, Los Angeles, is the recipient of the 2017 ACRL Education and Behavioral Sciences Section Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian Award. A plaque will be presented to Schaeffer during an EBSS event at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.
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“The Jacket from Dachau: One Survivor’s Search for Justice, Identity, and Home” LibGuide was selected as the 2017 winner of the RUSA ReferenceUSA Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Services for its well-organized and accessible presentation of information about the Holocaust. Spearheaded by Leslie Ward and Christine (Mi Seon) Kim of the Kurt R. Schmeller Library, Queensborough (N.Y.) Community College, the LibGuide was developed to accompany an exhibition.
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Andrew E. Kramer writes: “In other parts of the world, viewers might suspect the evening news is just a bunch of lies, but watching the weekly broadcast in Ukraine of StopFake News, they can be certain of it. The group is highly respected in journalistic circles in Kiev for its specialty of debunking fake news. Kiev, with its running battle with Moscow, was plagued by fake news long before concern spiked in Western Europe and the US.” And its website features an IFLA infographic that explains how to spot fake news.
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At the 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Atlanta, ALA Council passed a resolution on gun violence affecting libraries, library workers, and library patrons. The resolution originally came to Council via a Membership Meeting vote at the 2016 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando. Council subsequently directed the Committee on Legislation and the Intellectual Freedom Committee to establish a working group to continue the work. The resolution that was passed in Atlanta is a substitute for that 2016 resolution.
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ALCTS has named Jeanne Drewes, chief of the Binding and Collections Care Division and the Deacidification Program at the Library of Congress, as the 2017 recipient of its Ross Atkinson Lifetime Achievement Award. As one of her nominators stated, “Jeanne Drewes is, in my estimation, the most important figure in raising the profile of preservation in the last two decades. Her work at LC, ALA, and across the profession has made the field, and preservation professionals, continue to be relevant in today’s dynamic library environment.”
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YALSA will host a Twitter takeover during Teen Tech Week, March 5–11, with the theme of “Be the Source of Change.” YALSA’s twitter account, @yalsa, will be turned over to different partners who will share out information, news, and resources of interest to those working to build digital literacy skills in teens. The takeover will allow partners to inform and engage YALSA’s Twitter followers about relevant issues from their perspectives.
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ALSC has awarded its 2017 Baker & Taylor Summer Reading Program Grant to the Nevada County (Calif.) Library system. The grant is designed to encourage outstanding summer reading programs by providing financial assistance, while recognizing ALSC members for outstanding program development. The library will use the grant funds to reinvent summer reading by creating an educational and engaging program that revolves around STEAM.
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LLAMA is now accepting submissions for the 2017 John Cotton Dana Awards, which honor outstanding library public relations. Eight $10,000 awards are granted each year by the H. W. Wilson Foundation at an annual ceremony sponsored by ALA and EBSCO Information Services. Entries are submitted electronically and must be received by March 17; they may be submitted by any library, Friends group, consulting agency, or service provider.

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Latest Library Links

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Register to attend the Presidential Candidates Forum at ALA Midwinter Virtual on January 23 at 1 p.m. Central and engage in real time with ALA’s presidential candidates Stacey Aldrich, Ed Garcia, and Lessa Pelayo-Lozada. Renew your membership by January 31 to ensure that you receive a ballot for the election. The 2021 Virtual Membership Information Session takes place January 23 from 11–12:30 Central. Register to attend. Members are also invited to attend ALA Council sessions beginning January 24. These sessions offer a chance to learn more about the work of ALA’s governing body. For other Governance events, please check out the listings in the program scheduler. You do not need to register for the conference to attend these events.

ALA Governance Office
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After the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020, Fox Sports analyst and former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho felt compelled to do something. By June, Acho decided to channel this discourse into a YouTube series called Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man. American Libraries caught up with Acho ahead of his January 24 appearance at the ALA 2021 Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits Virtual to discuss his series and book, as well as equity in professional sports and the power of libraries.

American Libraries Trend, Jan. 20
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ALA Treasurer Maggie Farrell writes: “Last year started off as a productive but worrisome one for ALA finances, as evidenced by critical conversations held at the 2020 Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Since then, additional circumstances—including the pandemic—have aggravated ALA finances as libraries struggle with their own budget declines. Despite everything, member leaders remain committed to addressing ALA’s ongoing budget concerns and to creating a path toward a healthy financial future.”

American Libraries column, Jan./Feb.
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How many times has ALA held Midwinter Meetings? What year was the ALA Code of Ethics adopted? When are this year’s Youth Media Awards? We’ve got the stats on the history and happenings of ALA’s Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in By the Numbers.

American Libraries Trend, Jan./Feb.
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Sarah Mangiola writes: “On January 20, 2021, Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as president and vice president, respectively, of the United States. It’s a historic moment for the country, as Kamala Harris will be the first female, first Black, and first Indian American vice president. The kids in your life can join in the celebrations with these stories, including books written by Kamala Harris, a new picture book about White House dogs Champ and Major, and more.”

Brightly, Jan. 16
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As shared by the official Twitter account of Ursula K. Le Guin’s estate, the author is getting her own commemorative stamp from the United States Post Office. The stamp, the 33rd in USPS’s Literary Arts series, features a portrait of Le Guin in front of an illustration from a scene in The Left Hand of Darkness, her 1969 novel.

Gizmodo, Jan. 16
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The Food Timeline is an obsessively catalogued, exhaustively comprehensive resource on the history of what humans have been eating from from 17,000 B.C. onward. The site was the life’s work of reference librarian Lynne Olver, and it languished after her death in 2015. A profile in Eater last summer revived interest in the site from archivists, and now the Special Collections and University Archives department at Virginia Tech University has acquired Olver’s 2,300 books (right) and management of the site.

Eater, Jan. 12

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